HARRY'S BUTTERFLIESsequel to book 4
by MEYESLING
Summary: Harry is becoming a young man and have to cope with his destiny and his feelings for Hermione.
1. A CHANGE HAS COME

**_Author : This is my first fan fic. I wrote it last year while waiting for book 5._**

**_             Harry is becoming a man and have to face his destiny and his new feelings for Hermione._**

****

**_I'm a french girl, so try to be indulgent about any spelling mistakes and focus on the story to tell me if it is worth carrying it on._**

Chapter 1

It was on the morning of a hot july day that Harry really noticed something special was happening. Something he knew would come since the day he was born. Something he could not avoid and which was part of him...: He was becoming a man! 

There they were , few short pitch black  hair growing slowly but surely out of his usually smooth chin. OK, no panic here, he already had to  deal  with much  heavier problems in the past. He came face to face with death at least 5 times since he caught his first  breath of air nearly  15 years ago. 

His main enemy, Lord Voldemort, has returned in the end of last school year ... thanks to him. Actually, he fell in a trap set by  the Dark Lord  with the help of  some "faithful servants", the Death Eaters as they were called. He couldn't forget what happened last year. He was thinking about it  day and night, especially here, at Privet Drive, where he was feeling so far away from the wizarding world. Of course, he was  still receiving some letters from his friends at Hogwards: Hermione, Ron and Hagrid, the gamekeeper, but not a single word from his godfather Sirius. And if something terrible had happened to him, if the dark lord was building an army to invade the world and kill the "muggles"? He was feeling the danger coming ; he was dreaming about it every night. And not being able to make the difference between nightmares and premonitions makes him fell terribly powerless.

Actually the new hair on his face were not exactly the reason why he felt like a man and not like a child anymore. The truth was that he left childhood the day he  faced Voldemort for the first time at the end of his first year at Hogwards. Since then he had to fight some evil creatures , to overcome his own fears, to show bravery and, most of all, to discover that friendship and unity were the most powerful weapons against the Dark Forces. He would be 15 tomorrow but felt tired as an old man fighting for a loosing battle. 


	2. RESCUED BY MRS FIGG

Chapter 2  
  
On the next day late afternoon, Harry was lying alone in the grass, trying to find a shape to each woolly cloud moving slowly in the sky when he saw a small gray point falling down on him like a bomb on its target. He just had the time to realise what it was, to stand up and to catch what was a hurt and bleeding Pigwidgeon, clenching a torn letter in his beak.  
  
"What has happened to you?" Harry said to the bird who, at that very moment, passed out in his hand. He ran to the house, went upstairs four at a time and lock himself into his bedroom. Hedwig, who was usually never really happy to share her cage and food with another owl, realised that, this time, it was kind of an emergency case and flew out to land on Harry's bed head. The small bird's two legs were broken and he was shaking all over as if he experienced the scariest trip in his young life. Harry let the bird rest in Hedwig's cage and sit down on his bed to read, or try to read, to be exact, the torn letter.  
  
It was coming from The Burrow, but it was not written by Ron, as usual, this time he recognised the handwriting of Mr Weasley, Ron's father. The letter was actually written on the back of a page taken from a book of magical cooking recipes that probably belonged to Mrs Weasley and the words looked like written in a hurry. Despite the fact that some parts of it were missing, he managed to read most of the letter :  
  
Harry,  
  
We are quite busy this summer because of the new events. I can not tell you more about that for we may be spied by one of our ennemy. We can not come to pick you up in a muggle usual way because it would take too much time and we would better have you back with us as soon as possible.(Besides, I kind of broke off with the ministry of magic which usually lend us a car.) This is the reason why you will have to go across the street by Mrs Figg at 6 pm on your birthday. She is going to help you joining us this time.  
  
See you at The Burrow.  
  
Mr Weasley.  
  
There was a Post Scriptum at the end of the letter but the end of it was missing, all he could read was : " Harry, be very quick to ..."  
  
Harry was trying to figure out why the Weasleys wanted him back as soon as possible, what the hell could have happened to Pigwidgeon and how was it possible that the old lady living in the house just across the Dursleys could be in touch with the wizarding world, when his eyes fell on the clock hanging on the bedroom wall. His heart jumped as he realised that it was 5.45 and that today WAS his birthday! What a stupid git he was not to have read the letter first! What was going to happen if he missed the rendez-vous by Mrs Figg.  
  
He opened his trunk and filled it with all his school staff ; mixing books, quills, robes, pullovers, under wears in such a mess that he had to use a magic spell to lock the trunk.  
  
He asked Hedwig to go back in her cage and to share it with Pigwidgeon and rushed downstairs. Only 5 minutes left.., he really had to hurry up.., he had to make it, he could not fail or he would spend the rest of summer stuck here with the Dursleys. He was so concentrated on going fast that he didn't realised that Dudley was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him to come down and slide on a banana skin he laid on one of the steps.  
  
Harry ran downstairs and indeed slid on this bloody banana skin, but at the moment he should have fallen on his back hardly, Harry heard the door bursting open and felt he was stopped in mid-air and slowly brought back to his feet. He could see the outline of Mrs Figg drawn by the light of the sun. She stepped forward and, without a word, she took the other handle of Harry's trunk and waved him to follow her outside. Harry was so amazed that it took him a few seconds to realise that Dudley didn't scream to alert his parents that he was sneaking out of the house without permission. Mrs Figg and himself were outside the front yard when he heard Mrs Dursley scream and turned back to see something which rewarded him for 14 years of persecution : Dudley was transformed into a giant fat banana and it was not even the result of his own action. Somebody else did that for him and this was the most funny scene Harry had ever seen and one of his wishes that came true. He looked up to Mrs Figg and that was the first time he saw her smile.  
  
"That will teach him not to stamp on my flowers when he thinks I'm not at home."  
  
It seemed to Harry that, by the sound of her voice, she had been waiting for a long time to do that. So they have at least something in common. 


	3. WEIRD JOURNEY TO THE WEASLEY'S

Chapter 3  
  
When Harry entered Mrs Figg's living room, he smelt the same cat odour that was in the Weasley tent at the Quidditch World Cup and he also felt very familiar with the very old fashioned furniture in it . He assumed that she was the one whom the Weasley borrowed that camping tent. He wanted to ask a thousand questions like : Why haven't you tell me who I was before my eleven's birthday when I used to spend some afternoons with you? Why letting me live with those horrible people across the street when you've been witnessing all the bad things they were doing to me? But they were literally running across the room in direction of the backyard where Mrs Figg took an old tennis ball laying on the grass and put it firmly in Harry's empty left hand.  
  
It was the last thing Harry saw before being kind of parachuted in the snow. He replaced his glasses properly on his nose and really wished he was having a nightmare. He landed in a very odd place which seemed to be far beyond the most northern countries. Maybe there was a mistake with the portkey ; for, obviously, the tennis ball showed itself to be a portkey. A host of questions came suddenly into his confused mind : Maybe Mrs Figg was not on his side? Maybe she changed the letter he received from Mr Weasley to send him to Voldemort a second time for the Dark Lord to finish what he had begun last time? Which meant : to murder him! Besides, he was alone in the snow only wearing his short-leave T-shirt and it was freezing!! He raised his wand to open his trunk and put his coat on, but the cold growing in his fingers was already avoiding him to do the unlocking spell properly .By the furious hootings he could hear from the cage he hold , Pigwidgeon , awaken, and Hedwig, seemed to agree that they had to move quickly if they didn't want to become ice statues.  
  
He looked at the horizon and felt even more depressed when he realised that there was no end to it. He could see miles away and there was no where to shelter or no one to ask for help. The landscape was desperately flat and cold white. Except maybe for a small red spot in the snow, reflecting the light of the sun. He dragged his trunk through the snow in direction of that red spot and stopped right next to it. Then his heart sank when he realised it was only an old woollen glove probably forgotten here by former visitors. Anyway, he was cold so he decided he would slip the glove on. He took it, slip it on his right hand, noticed that it was amazedly dry for something lying in the snow and was about to go on walking in the snow when suddenly he found himself falling on a mattress in a very casual unfamiliar living room. 


	4. IT'S GOOD TO BE LOVED

Chapter 4

"Harry dear, what happened to you ? You are arriving in the nick of time! We were starting to dread that you missed the portkey and that you were lost! We were so worried! I told you, Arthur, that  sending him in that place to find that stupid portkey was too dangerous for a boy of his age!"

That was too much! Not only he had been sent in three different places within 10 minutes, but also he was called a little boy! He was 15 today and he was not a boy anymore. He really loved the Weasley but that was really too much for him. So when he caught a glimpse of how tall Ron had become in a few weeks and  that he saw Hermione   rushing towards him to see if everything was alright like she would have done for a pet, he really wanted to tell them all to get off  and to show them that he was strong enough for that experience.

But instead of that he just let  Mr Weasley help him to stand up, Mrs Weasley replace his glasses properly and  Fred, George,Ron and Hermione hug him. It was so good to feel like part of a loving family that he could accept to be treated like a young boy endlessly. Apart, maybe, when Hermione came closer to hug him he couldn't figure out why he felt butterflies in his stomach and he noticed a very nice smell in her hair. Things were becoming too complicated for him.

"Oh, dear, what happened to Pigwidgeon?" said Ginny, Ron's young sister, when  she turned away her eyes to avoid Harry's as he  was saying hello to her. She was deeply fond of him, especially since he saved her life in her first year at Hogwarts. He was her hero and she was becoming red from nose to ears when he was looking in her direction. Harry knew this for a long time but kind of didn't care because she was like part of his new family: the Weasley. Anyway he couldn't avoid to think that she also had changed  in a few weeks and that she was becoming a quite beautiful young woman. Ron would really have to keep an eye on her if he wanted to protect her from the boys at school... What the hell was he doing?! Things were definitely becoming too complicated for him. If Ron knew what Harry just thought about his little Ginny, he would kill him on the spot.

"Earth to Harry", Ron was waving his hand in front of Harry s' eyes, "Would you mind telling us what happened or do we have to figure it out on our own? As to myself, I think you walked on the tail of the Yetty and he kicked your ass right back to here."

"Ronald Weasley!" , Mrs Weasley was coming back from the kitchen and she nearly let slid the cup of  tea she was holding when she heard her son. " Nobody is allowed to say such words under my roof! Percy never told things like that, you should be ashamed! What an example for your sister! Take this cup of tea, Harry dear, you will feel much better after that. I put a special warming effect on it."

Harry  felt really relieved to see that some things didn't change and  he began to relax and  explained what had happened. When he finished telling the whole story, he was explained about the numerous parts of it that he barely understood.

 Mr Weasley informed him that  everybody on Dumbledore's side had to be very careful to hide themselves and their family in order to protect them from the Death Eaters. 

"This is why we had to leave The Burrow and to catch you from Privet Drive, which is too well known now. We were being black mailed every day of last week and the situation was becoming too dangerous to stay at the Burrow." While Mr Weasley was saying that, Harry could see how worried he was for his family by the way he was looking around for them, especially gazing at Ginny. He went on : "We had to let you come here through 2 different portkeys which make us  more difficult to find for dark side spies. It shuffled the cards for the enemy, but it was also very risky because you only had 10 minutes to find the red glove from the point you landed in  North Pole." And he added, looking to Mrs Weasley : " I knew everything was going to be OK with those portkeys because Harry is a clever boy. We wrote a clue about them in our letter and, beside, this was not the first time he travelled by this mean of transport. Am I wrong, Harry?"

Harry assumed then that the part missing on the letter was this clue! He wanted to tell them that he was actually very lucky to be there and that he could still be freezing in North pole if he had gone walking the opposite direction over there, but then he thought that Mrs Weasley would kill her husband for making him risk his life in such a stupid way and he actually didn't want to confess them that he managed to land here by complete random. That would minimise his "I made it on my own, like a man" effect. So, he nodded.

 Mr Weasley went on : "The ministry of magic denied to all parents from Hogwarts'pupils  what Dumbledore said at the end of last term. This was the reason why many people, faithful to the school headmaster, had been quitting  the ministry to join  his "troups." That's what I did."

There was a question bursting at the edge of Harry's lips : "And what about Sirius?" 

Every body suddenly fell silent, as if they were dreading this question to come. 

Mr Weasley came closer to Harry and  laid his right hand on Harry's shoulder : "We have no news since he left Hogwards at the end of last year." Then, probably to cheer Harry up he added : " He has to keep quiet now because he is being hunted down both by the ministry of magic and by the Death Eaters. He has  to avoid some spy to find what he is up to for his own safety and for ours. You know Harry, what happened to Pigwidgeon was not unexpected and he  probably had to fight against  one of those dark sorcerer who are unregistered animagi and  changed into crows. It seems Pig has been a very brave owl and  he managed to let you know about the portkey in Mrs Figg's backyard just on time."

"We sent him five days ago! We knew he would meet some enemies on his way." Said Ron to Harry, in a tone which shows that he was quite proud of his owl.

Then, Mrs Weasley told him that  Mrs Figg moved right in front of the Dursley house when he was one year old, just to keep an eye on him and report Dumbledore and Professor Mc Gonagall  everything. But she promised to not interfere into his life until it's necessary. She also admitted that she was not the nicest person they know, that she was talking very few and that she was absolutely not fond of children.

Harry agreed  and couldn't stop smiling by thinking of what she did to Dudley.

After having learnt  so much about the new events in the wizarding world and  experienced such a rush to come here, Harry just needed one thing : to rest.  They had a very nice supper speaking about everything but the latest events. They laughed a lot with some of Fred and George new tricks. Even Mrs Weasley was trying not to tell anything against that, as if she wanted to let them have fun in case something terrible happens in the future. It was about 10 pm when they realised they should go to bed. As this shelter  was really smaller than the Burrow, all the girls, that meant Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Hermione, slept in the bedroom upstairs, and all the boys had to share  the living room. Harry had to admit that it was kind of amazing the way such a small room could extend to let 5 persons sleep in it! Mr Weasley made 4  mattresses appear for himself, Ron, Fred and George and let Harry sleep on the mattress he landed on  right next to the fireplace. That was perfect for Harry who eventually opened his trunk and put his pyjama on before falling asleep as soon as he closed his eyelids.


	5. HERMIONE'S TEARS

Chapter 5

It was half past midnight when Harry suddenly sat straight up on his mattress, shivering and sweating. He had just awoken from one of his terrible nightmares in which were mixed together some past events like the death of Cedric Diggory, followed by the  reproachful look from Cedric's parents on him, and unbelievable scenes from the building of an army for the Dark Lord including some Dementors, the creatures he most feared in the world.

He was about to lay down back to sleep when he heard some noise coming from the kitchen. The door  was open and he focused himself on the sound coming from it. He was maybe dreaming but he would have sworn that  someone was crying in the kitchen. He couldn't sleep anymore so he decided to have a closer look. He stood up silently from his mattress and walked on tip-toes to reach the framing of the door.

What he saw there took out his breath and made the butterflies come back in his stomach. By the moonlight he could see the outline of  Hermione. She was standing alone, leaning her head against  the entrance glazed door. She was wiping away some tears with her left hand and  was clenching a page of the Daily Prophet  in the right one. She didn't notice him. He didn't know what to do. He never had to deal with something like this and the worst was that a few month ago, he would have known how to handle this : He would have simply come close to her and asked what the matter was like he would do for Ron. Then he would have patted her on the back and would have left right away.

But at that moment, everything was different. He couldn't hide the truth from himself anymore. Of course, he was feeling some  strange emotions for girls, he knew this from last year when he had a crush on Cho, but he never really noticed that Hermione was also a girl. No, that's a lie. He noticed it last year at the Yule Ball. She was amazingly beautiful there and he remembered being a little bit jealous of Krum. Anyway, he had other problems in mind at that time and didn't really bother. But there he was, in the framing of the door and next minute, she was going to spin around and see him. He had to find something to do or to say before that or it will be the worst situation he had ever experienced, including Dementors. 

So he decided to move closer, thinking hard of what should be the first words to say. But the closer he got from her and the more difficult it was for him to focus on what he had to say. He could see now why he felt so out of breath when he saw her, she had tied her hair into a high pony tail  and therefore allowed him to see the back of her neck and  shoulders. That was it! Apart from the ball, Hermione was always wearing boy stuff or the Hogwards uniform. He never really saw her skin this way before tonight! She was actually wearing a small top with shoulder straps on  long pyjama trousers. She had changed also. It was obvious that she was becoming a real woman and apparently no longer wanted to hide it.

Harry was stuck in the middle of the kitchen, lost in these confusing thoughts when it happened ; she turned around and gave a jump when she saw him.

"Harry?! You scared me to death!" She looked positively confused and kind of ashamed that someone caught her being  weak. Hermione's pride was very high and Harry realise that it was the first time he was seeing her crying. Maybe he was the only person in the world who saw her cry! She was going to be furious. Quick, he had to find something to say!

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to... bother you." Harry was expecting Hermione to say something like "that's OK" and run at full speed into her room, but she didn't. She silently turned away and looked sadly back through the glazed door. She was acting really weird, Harry thought. Then, he didn't know exactly why, except that it was maybe the stupidest act  he would ever do in his life, he felt like she was asking for kind of a protection. Her silence sounded like an SOS to him.

 And so he did it. He walked towards her and came closer and closer until he could nearly feel the warmth of her body next to his own. He didn't even have time to think about the next step because at that very moment  Hermione turned around to face him and dissolved in tears. She flung herself into Harry's arm and completely let go.

It was a very strange moment for Harry who was both confused by holding a crying Hermione in his arm and thrilled by the contact of her skin. After a few moments, Hermione calmed herself down and moved back. They both stared at each other for a second and then, as if suddenly  reality was back to wake them from their dream, they realised how awkward the situation was and they both let go of each other in a very abrupt way. 

Avoiding carefully to look at each other again and both reddening from nose to ears, they started to speak about what  had made Hermione cry.

Hermione was still sobbing and it was a little bit difficult for her to speak in a properly tone :

"I could't .. sleep because of Mrs Weasley's snoring." At this picture Harry couldn't held back a smile which had the nice effect to make Hermione smile too. The conversation was nearly back to normal between the two "friends." Hermione went on :

" I decided that I would ... come quietly to the kitchen to take one of my school books  in my trunk,... here, and bring it upstairs to read it and then ..." She stopped and fought very hard to hold back the tears suddenly reappearing on the edge of her eyes and  handed him the Daily Prophet article she had in her right hand. Harry could see the headline : "Masked Death Eaters frighten all London!"

" I found this in the cupboard. I guess Ron's mum didn't want to ... alarm me. Since my parents sent me by the Weasley last week, I'm really worrying about them. They looked kind of ... relieved that I wouldn't be with them anymore. You know Harry, they are both ... muggles and the week before they sent me here I.... heard them say to someone on the phone that London was not safe anymore for people like them these days. Then they received a letter from Hogwards addressed to them ...and not to... me. I saw "confidential" written on it. The next day...; I was here."

She pointed a line in the article to Harry : " ... important damages in Oakley Road, Flairview steet, ...She sighed and explained : "My house is in Flairview street and the daily prophet is not saying anything about the people who may be ... hurt!" This last word was too much and Harry could see how hard she was trying not to cry and loose her dignity again in front of him.She suddenly stood up straighter on her feet and took a deep breath before telling Harry that it was late and that they'd better go and sleep.

"Everything is going to be better with a bright new day tomorrow. Good night Harry." She took the book she originally came to pick up and was already halfway  up the stairs, when she turned to say a quick but somewhat really genuine "thanks" to Harry. Then, reddening again, she rushed to the bedroom and disappeared in the dark.

"Anytime." said Harry  to himself staring absentmindedly at the top of the stairs before heading back to his mattress in the living room. 


End file.
